Football: Ronaldo-less Madrid hit Deportivo for six
Real Madrid crushed Deportivo la Coruna 6-2 to maintain the upper hand in the La Liga title race.
BARCELONA (AFP) - Real Madrid again made light of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo as they crushed Deportivo la Coruna 6-2 to maintain the upper hand in the La Liga title race on Wednesday.
Madrid and Barcelona are locked on 78 points at the top of the table, but Real have a game in hand over their title rivals.
Barca remain top thanks to their better head-to-head record as Lionel Messi struck twice to relegate Osasuna in a 7-1 thrashing.
Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane made nine changes in all from the side that lost 3-2 to Barca on Sunday to reignite the title race.
Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and the injured Gareth Bale were left out the Madrid squad for a third straight away league game, but again their absence wasn t missed.
Alvaro Morata smashed home at the near post to give the visitors the perfect start after less than a minute.
James Rodriguez then added a second from Lucas Vazquez s cross as Madrid threatened to run riot inside the first 20 minutes.
However, the European champions have now kept just one clean sheet in their last 15 games and their defence was breached once more when Florin Andone turned home Gael Kakuta s mishit shot 10 minutes before half-time.
Vazquez, though, restored Real s two-goal lead before half-time and Zidane s men could even have reached double figures in a dominant second period.
Morata unselfishly teed up Rodriguez for his second of the night before Isco sealed a stunning individual display by smashing home 13 minutes from time.
Joselu got another goal back for Deportivo with a fine looping header, but fittingly Real had the final say when Casemiro s piledriver slipped under Deportivo keeper Przemyslaw Tyton.
